Parly committee says returning KZN's flood-damaged forensic lab to full function a priority

DURBAN - Damaged by floods nine years ago, KwaZulu-Natal's only forensic laboratory is still not fully functional.

As a result, exhibits are being moved between Pretoria and the Western Cape for analysis, delaying turnaround time.

It's one of the pressing matters being dealt with by Parliament’s portfolio committee on police.

The committee is on a three-day oversight visit to the province.

The forensic laboratory, which government rents for about R6 million a year, was first hit by floods in 2016.

It’s not been fully operational since.

Police in KwaZulu-Natal have had to rely on other provinces for laboratory services, impacting their ability to conclude investigations.

Parliament’s police portfolio committee visited the lab on Wednesday and met with police management on Thursday.

Committee chairperson, Ian Cameron: "It’s been a very shocking visit in terms of the forensic lab that we visited. One of the biggest things that came out was to think that career police officers have to work in the circumstances that they do, there is just no way that you can uphold high morale in those type of circumstances and we as a committee take that very seriously. We can’t expect service delivery to improve without that."

The committee said that bringing the lab back to full capacity had to be prioritised.